Jakarta, INTI - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) assesses that the TBScreen.AI technology, developed by KONEKSI, an Australia-Indonesia partnership platform for knowledge and innovation, has the potential to enhance the effectiveness of tuberculosis (TB) screening nationwide, particularly in remote areas with limited healthcare facilities and specialized doctors.
Rita Aryati, a staff member of the Tuberculosis (TB) and Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) Department at Kemenkes, stated in Jakarta on Monday that, as of July 27, 2026, the notification rate for new TB cases had reached 41% against a target of 45%. Additionally, treatment management coverage stands at 89%, compared to the 95% target.
“Case detection must be followed by prompt and appropriate treatment to break the chain of TB transmission. This is particularly important given that TB management is one of the programs prioritized under the President’s PHTC initiative. Therefore, the TBScreen.AI research can assist the Ministry of Health in its efforts to enhance TB screening,” said Rita.
TBScreen.AI can analyze chest X-ray images in less than 5 seconds. The platform is designed using data reflecting the diversity of the Indonesian population, including gender, age, race, and disability factors, making the screening results better suited to local conditions.
Rita explained that the World Health Organization (WHO) has encouraged the use of computer-aided detection (CAD) technology to assist in interpreting chest X-rays, especially in areas lacking healthcare facilities, resources, or radiologists. Although CAD technology has advanced in various countries, Indonesia has not yet developed its own system.
Improvement on Dataset and Usage
Dr. Antonia Morita Iswari Saktiawati, the lead researcher and a lecturer in the Department of Internal Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), noted that the dataset currently used by TBScreen.AI is dominated by data from Yogyakarta, Central Java, and Papua, so it does not yet fully represent the characteristics of the entire Indonesian population.
Consequently, the research team plans to expand data collection to include other provinces. In addition to its existing online version, TBScreen.AI is being developed for offline use to ensure it can be utilized in areas with limited internet access.
"The data collection and testing conducted resulted in the TBScreen.AI platform achieving a sensitivity of 83.16 percent," she said.
Moving forward, the researchers and developers aim to further improve the model's accuracy by incorporating more chest X-ray data, accounting for comorbidities, and expanding the scope to include groups vulnerable to TB.
According to Antonia, developing a domestic CAD system offers several advantages, such as the ability to tailor X-ray image quality to local conditions in Indonesia, lower operational costs from no annual licensing fees, and more secure health data management, as all data is handled domestically.
Meanwhile, KONEKSI Team Leader Jana Hertz stated that this collaborative research demonstrates the commitment of both Indonesia and Australia to generating sustainable health innovations through the application of research findings.
She explained that TBScreen.AI is one of 101 research projects supported by KONEKSI. The research involves several institutions, including UGM; University of Melbourne; the Center for Advocacy for Women, People with Disabilities, and Children (SAPDA); and the Papua Health and Community Development Foundation (YPKMP).
Conclusion
The Ministry of Health assesses that TBScreen.AI, a tuberculosis (TB) screening technology developed through the KONEKSI platform, can enhance the efficiency of TB detection, particularly in remote areas that lack healthcare facilities and radiologists. This computer-aided detection (CAD) technology can analyze chest X-ray images in 5 seconds and has achieved a sensitivity rate of 83.16 percent. Developers are currently expanding the dataset across various provinces and preparing an offline version for use in areas with limited internet access.
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